Tua Tagovailoa Benching Is Seismic Move By Miami Dolphins That Speaks To Franchise Failure

The NFL boasts 11 quarterbacks who make $50 million per season or more on average and all of them got those deals between the 2023 and 2025 offseasons, but Tua Tagovailoa is unique among that group because he's the only one who is now benched.

The Dolphins on Wednesday benched their high-priced starting quarterback in favor of unproven rookie Quinn Ewers, who is now slated to start Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Aug 23, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers (14) passes the football against the Jacksonville Jaguars during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Quinn Ewers Dolphins New Starter

This is seismic. But it's not the good kind of seismic as in a team winning a championship or accomplishing a great feat.

This is seismic in its failure of the individual and the entire Miami Dolphins organization. It's seismic in how the quarterback who the franchise trusted enough to make its highest-paid player has failed to such a degree as to basically break that trust.

It's seismic in what it portends.

And what it portends is uncertainty. And possible change that could rock the franchise to its very foundation.

That's not hyperbole.

That's a fact because we now must wait and see what the Dolphins, who have the NFL's longest playoff-win drought dating back to 2000, do next. And we wait on that in the full knowledge that what they've been doing lately hasn't been good.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross (left) talks with general manager Chris Grier before a game in November 2022. (Credit: Getty Images)

Move Follows GM Chris Grier Firing

The Dolphins, you'll recall, fired general manager Chris Grier earlier this season. They put head coach Mike McDaniel on notice that his job was at stake pending the team's performance the final two months of the season. And now McDaniel has basically fired Tagovailoa.

McDaniel was hired, at least in part, to fix Tagovailoa. And that seemingly worked in 2023 and some in ‘24. But it’s been a failure this season.

Tagovailoa has 20 TD passes and 15 interceptions. Those 15 picks lead the NFL. And that statistic isn't the only troubling issue because Tagovailoa's 88.5 passer rating is the lowest he's posted since his rookie year in 2020 – so, yes, regression.

And let's be clear: Tagovailoa's regression is McDaniel's regression as well.

Coach Mike McDaniel. (Credit: Getty Images)

Mike McDaniel Tied To Tua

The coach has pointed to plays not made or execution being off whenever the club loses, which suggests he's disconnected from outcomes. But he is tied to Tagovailoa more than practically any other player. He was on board with giving Tagovailoa the big contract just as other leaders atop the organization were.

So this regression, which began to some extent last season, is closely tied to the coach who has overseen it.

McDaniel, of course, is loosening that bond to some degree in turning to Ewers. But the tie Tagovailoa has to the Dolphins goes beyond being connected to the coach because it is deeply rooted in the club's salary cap structure.

To put it succinctly, Tua Tagovailoa's $212.4 million contract today looks like the worst in franchise history.

(Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)

Tagovailoa Salary Cap Hit A Disaster

If this benching is the first step of the Dolphins eventually moving on from Tagovailoa, then that move will be costly. Simply, Tagovailoa's entire 2026 salary of $39 million is fully guaranteed. The Dolphins are on the hook for every penny of his $56.4 million salary cap cost in 2026 whether he's on the team or not.

It gets worse.

The club is actually on the hook for $99 million in dead money if there's a decision this offseason to move on.

So how did the Dolphins get here? No one can say with certainty. There are theories Tagovailoa lost some of his fire after he got paid in July of 2024, perhaps didn't work as hard, or got comfortable. There are theories he's simply worn down and diminished by the barrage of injuries he suffered throughout his career.

Whatever the theory, the problem lies at the feet of the Dolphins.

It's a franchise's business to know the makeup of a player and whether paying him will cause him to begin coasting. It's a franchise's business to know a player's injury history and possible fallout — particularly with multiple concussions — when the problems occurred before the new extension was offered and signed. 

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross and vice chairman Bruce Beal before the start of a game against the New York Giants at Hard Rock Stadium on Dec. 5, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (David Santiago/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Dolphins Quarterback Failure Unique

Plus, Tagovailoa making poor decisions, which he does too often, aren't about being injured.

We don't know to what extent McDaniel made this call on his own. He'll probably have to answer that when he speaks to reporters on Wednesday. 

Until then, the idea that the club personnel department forced the move to protect against a $20 million injury guarantee in 2027, or perhaps club owner Stephen Ross ordered this change is mere speculation but cannot be dismissed.

This we do know with certainty: A lot of NFL teams went out on a limb in making costly quarterback decisions the last two years:

• The Chargers with Justin Herbert at $52.5 million per season on average.
• The Bengals with Joe Burrow at $55 million per season.
• The Ravens with Lamar Jackson at $52 million per season.
• The Jaguars with Trevor Lawrence at $55 million per season.
• The Lions with Jared Goff at $53 million per season.
• The Packers with Jordan Love at $55 million per season.
• The Cowboys with Dak Prescott at $60 million per season.
• The Bills with Josh Allen at $55 million per season.
• The 49ers with Brock Purdy at $53 million per season.
• And the Dolphins with Tagovailoa at $53.1 million per season.

One of those is unlike all the others. Only Tagovailoa has been benched.